So....I recieved a letter from Sky.....It doesn't actually say a lot other than Sky are "kindly" increasing my subscription by $1.15 a month reflected in the increased cost of doing business....(what a vague explanation for a price hike if ever i heard one!)

However under the "Awesome things to come" paragraph there were some potential sweeteners for the disenchanted - new sport and movies, Soho pop up channels (what exactly ARE pop up channels??) and OTHER channels launching soon.

Some thoughts....new channels - aren't we pretty restricted by satellite capacity? New satellite? Anyone got any ideas of what could be these new channels? FX? Sci-Fi?

Sadly no mention of new HD channels!!! That is what is sorely missing....but this ties in with the satellite capacity issue....BUT there are murmerings of a new EPG so good stuff could be potentially be just around the corner....! I suspect it will be one of those 'believe it when i see it' kind of moments!

The repeats don't irritate me much - there are enough enough channels with enough material that there's more of interest to record than I have time to watch.

What does irritate me - and will likely be the reason when I cancel (I keep coming close) is the saturation-bombing of ads and promos that make some channels as unwatchable as free to air TV. Especially the blasted promos. Which is annoying when I am paying circa $100/month for the feed.

History, Nat Geo and Discovery seem to have a 4-5 minute ad/promo break every 10 or so minutes. And theres not even much variety, just the same 10 or so promos repeated over, and over and over at each break.

We paid dearly when Sky UHF came along many years ago, we then paid dearly when Sky Satellite came along, gladly paid the ever increasing monthly fee... After a number of years we moved house, no free installs back then so after the second shift we gave Sky the big wave goodbye.

That was about ten years ago now, 2005 built a mythTV machine and hardly watch live TV any more. We've saved over $8k of Sky TV fees.

Was with family over Easter, they have mySky, the picture quality was terrible, watching Cosmos now at 720p so much better can't do that on Sky.

Back in the days of two channels there was plenty to watch on TV. If you didn't like what was on you could "turn it to the other side", or "turn over the telly" to watch the other channel. I have a theory that the idea of 75 channels and nothing worth watching has something to do with the Law of Diminishing Returns. Wikipedia has a nice example:

"For example, the use of fertilizer improves crop production on farms and in gardens; but at some point, adding more and more fertilizer improves the yield less per unit of fertilizer, and excessive quantities can even reduce the yield."

Which I have re-phrased...

"For example, the use of Sky TV improves entertainment value on farms and in houses; but at some point, adding more and more channels improves the entertainment value less per unit of channel, and excessive channels can even reduce the level of enjoyment."

JimmyH: What does irritate me - and will likely be the reason when I cancel (I keep coming close) is the saturation-bombing of ads and promos that make some channels as unwatchable as free to air TV. Especially the blasted promos. Which is annoying when I am paying circa $100/month for the feed.

Sky must be one of the only pay to view providers which have ads mid shows. In the states its obvious that Cable companies don't have ads as their TV shows are that much longer. 30 min vs 23 min, and 60 min vs 43 min.

I get by with Freeview, Huluplus and Premier League Pass. We won't talk about the rest.

Telecom have announced a service but I won't hold my breath, like First Media and their Online store attempts it will be short lived if ever born, and haven't Chorus built a new TV service for Vodafone?

MikeRetired IT Manager. The views stated in my posts are my personal views and not that of any other organisation.

Telecom have announced a service but I won't hold my breath, like First Media and their Online store attempts it will be short lived if ever born, and haven't Chorus built a new TV service for Vodafone?

Firstmedia? Wow you hold on to the past. Its a very different company these days. FM was about an entirely new cable service, they pulled it because DSL was much cheaper.

Telecom have announced a service but I won't hold my breath, like First Media and their Online store attempts it will be short lived if ever born, and haven't Chorus built a new TV service for Vodafone?

Firstmedia? Wow you hold on to the past. Its a very different company these days. FM was about an entirely new cable service, they pulled it because DSL was much cheaper.

No don't hold onto the past just used as an example, I always look forward. Different company? well not really same culture, same bureaucracy, same lawyers office log jamb. Geni-i is the same

MikeRetired IT Manager. The views stated in my posts are my personal views and not that of any other organisation.